- Legislation to end the two-child limit which would deliver the biggest reduction in child poverty in a single parliament on record, has second reading today.
- Comes as Local Authorities receive £1 billion Crisis and Resilience funds which will prevent families from falling into poverty and crisis.
- All part of the landmark Child Poverty Strategy set to tackle the root causes of poverty and deliver security, opportunity, and respect for families across the UK.
Historic legislation to end the two-child limit and lift hundreds and thousands of children out of poverty has moved a step closer to reality today.
As the bill to scrap the two-child limit reaches second reading stage in Parliament, Local Authorities are preparing to deliver the new £1 billion Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF) – the most significant investment in local crisis support in a generation, giving families a genuine safety net to help families with the cost of living.
Launching in April and split across Local Authorities throughout England, the Crisis and Resilience Fund is the first time a multi-year settlement will be in place for crisis support, replacing the annual cliff-edge funding cycle with the long-term certainty councils need to plan ahead and deliver lasting change.
The £1 billion Crisis and Resilience Fund will replace the Household Support Fund and brings together Discretionary Housing Payments into a single, streamlined grant. This simplified approach will reduce administrative burden on councils while ensuring families can access the support they need when they need it.
This will allow the fund to act as a genuine safety net to prevent families from falling into poverty by giving Local Authorities the certainty they need to run long-lasting initiatives targeted at the needs of their local area.
Both measures form part of the government’s Child Poverty Strategy, the most ambitious plan to tackle child poverty in a generation. The two-child limit is the biggest single driver of growth in child poverty levels, removing it is the quickest and most cost-effective way to lift 450,000 children out of poverty in the final year of this parliament.
Including measures such as expanded free school meals and free childcare hours, the strategy aims to break the cycle of children growing up in poverty facing worse outcomes in health, education and employment, in turn building a stronger Britain for the future.
Minister for Employment Dame Diana Johnson, said
“Families deserve support before a crisis hits, not after. By scrapping the two-child limit and launching a £1 billion Crisis and Resilience Fund, we’re giving councils the tools to help families build real financial security.
“Growing up in poverty has a significant impact on health, education and employment and lifting 550,000 children out of these circumstances isn’t just about fairness today, it’s about building a stronger Britain for the future.”
Co-designed with Councils and charities, the Government has released guidance on how the funding could be spent including initiatives to join up local services like debt advice and help to access financial support, helping those who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs and programmes to ensure children do not go hungry during school holidays.
The Minister for Employment will today (3 February) visit Hope4All in Sunderland, where a community-led food club and advice service has cut local food bank reliance by 40% – demonstrating the importance of local initiatives, run by those who understand the needs of their communities.
Sabine Goodwin, Director of the Independent Food Aid Network, said
“The eagerly awaited Crisis and Resilience Fund is set to be groundbreaking for households living on low incomes in English local authorities. Its newly published guidance outlines the delivery of effective crisis support via prioritised cash payments enabling choice and dignity as well as the need to help residents build financial resilience through bolstered community support.
“Taking a cash-first approach to poverty, this multi-year funding pot has the capacity to reduce the number of people having to turn to charitable food providers and to help fulfil the Government’s commitment to end mass dependence on emergency food parcels.”
Funding for the CRF has been confirmed until 31 March 2029, a significant shift from short-term emergency pots that limited Councils ability to plan ahead and build joined-up services that that would have a meaningful impact on their local community and result in genuine poverty prevention. The £1 billion package replaces the Household Support Fund and incorporates Discretionary Housing Payments, streamlining support into a single grant. Alongside the guidance, provisional allocations have already been shared with all councils.
Emma Revie, co-chief executive at Trussell, said
We are delighted to see the Crisis and Resilience Fund launched this year, and to have been able to work with the government and our partners to ensure it is designed to provide effective support for people at risk of needing a food bank. Every day, food banks see how people living on the lowest incomes can be quickly tipped into crisis by an unexpected cost or financial shock such as illness or a job loss. Effective crisis support is crucial to prevent people from falling into severe hardship, so they can still afford the essentials we all need.
The new Crisis and Resilience Fund is a vital step towards ensuring no-one is forced to turn to a food bank to get by, and represents important progress on the government’s manifesto commitment to ending the need for emergency food. We welcome its development, which is based on the evidence and insights from our community of food banks and other experts in the Crisis Support Working Group and we look forward to continuing this work in partnership to help end the need for food banks for good.
The government is also taking wider action to help families by driving down the cost of living with measures including increasing the National Living Wage, cutting an average £150 from household energy bills and freezing rail and prescription charges.
